So something that struck me about the debate last night, which may not have been apparent to a lot of the individuals here is that the republican party has effectively lost the election.

The problem isn't the candidates themselves (some sounded like reasonable human beings, who could perform the duty of president adequately). The problem, for the most part, appears to be the republican party leadership (as it exerted itself through Fox news) and the pandering to the base they seem to think is necessary.

Look at the questions they asked the candidates (paraphrased):
How illegal are you going to make abortion?
How big a wall do you want to build, and how many illegal immigrants are you going to throw out?
How much do you hate terrorists?
How much do you hate obamacare?
How quickly will you end the deal with Iran?
And my favorite, so I'm quoting it directly: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first."


The questions they are asking these candidates are ensuring that the the candidates will be unelectable in the general election. I understand that a lot of you may not get why (and that's why I titled this the way I did), but you have to understand that I'm the voter the republicans need. I DON'T like the poor and the needy. I DON'T want social programs. I DON'T give a rat's azz about gun control. I personally thought obamacare was a bad long term plan. It's voters like myself who would be most likely to jump ship if a viable candidate were presented from the Republican side.

But now, each one of those candidates is on record pandering to the far right base. Those clowns were going to vote republican anyway. Why sink the election just to give the primary candidates an opportunity to pander to their base?

A smarter Republican leadership would have steered the h#ll away from those questions. If possible, they would have stuck to topics which would be more of the focus in the general debates. Because now, in the general election, all the democratic nominee has to do is reference some of these answers and will easily swing the independent vote.

victor809 wrote:

So many juicy morsels from Victor's opening gem, and brewha takes the Liz Warren sound bite instead.

So disappointing.

tailgater wrote:

I kept thinking last night how will any of this help win a general election ..... It's not enough to win runner up. ThT makes you a ducockass not Reagan. Kasich came closest in that regard which dooms him with the party.

teedubbya wrote:

It's sad, because this was their best opportunity ever.

I'm willing to bet that the Republican party has never had so many non-republicans (independents, dems) watching a Republican debate. This was a seriously prime opportunity to get one or two of their candidates in front of an audience of voters who may never have heard them speak.

By choosing this opportunity to double down on far right topics, they really lost an opportunity to make headway on the actual presidential election.

victor809 wrote: